


Blackbox

by what_the_buck



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Sebastian Stan RPF
Genre: Blood, F/M, Fighter Pilots, Hurt, Injury, It's old, Original Character(s), Pilots, Plane Crash, Please forgive the bad writing, Sebastian Stan - Freeform, Trigger Warnings, Violence, War, Whump, asshole characters, crash, soldier character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 20:19:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17987891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_the_buck/pseuds/what_the_buck
Summary: Laika Andante has been handed a simple mission. Who knew so much could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. please forgive the writing. I like to think I've improved  
> 2\. I do have two more chapters written but do not intend to publish them unless this gets sufficient reaction. I don't see the point in uploading stuff that isn't going to be acknowledged, ya know? But if anybody wants it just comment and I'll add it on  
> 3\. I haven't worked on this since like July. If anybody likes it, I might write more. I didn't get much of a reaction before and I'm hoping this might change that. If there is still no reaction, I probably won't write much more. Not unless someone asks. If you like it enough to want more, comment and I'll do so.

Laika looked up when she heard her name.

“Mission for you, Andante,” Her commander said, handing her a file. Laika opened it and flicked through it. “Suspicious activity seen over the Russian 7th Military Base in Abkhazia, Georgia. You and your team will be handed two F-15 Strike Eagles. I know you all normally pilot single seaters but two planes is more inconspicuous than four. You will be sent along with Drew, Smith, and Beckett to check it out.”

“Drew, Smith, and Beckett?” Laika asked. Her commander passed her a file.

“Benjamin John Drew, known as Benjie. Born 6th October 1982, 37 years old. Surveillance expert with sufficient knowledge on arms and ballistics in case necessary.” He passed her a second file. “Thomas Valentino Beckett, known as Beck, born February 14th 1987, 32 years old. Expert navigator and survivalist,” Her commander said. He paused before passing her the last file.

“Jacob Smith, known as Jake. Born April 2nd 1975, 44 years old. Weapons and ballistics expert.” He paused. “Between you and me, I’d be careful around this guy. He’s sketchy at best. A trigger happy loose cannon with a history of violence. I don’t like him, he’s here because my CO commanded it. Said he had a couple missions that went really well before that screw came loose. Just…be careful around this guy.”

“Why us four?” Laika asked as she flicked through the files.

“You three are the best of the best in your field and we prefer not to take risks,” Her commander, Jones, explained. “I suggest you read up, fuel up, and suit up. You leave tomorrow at 0600 hours.” Laika nodded and turned to leave.

“Oh and Andante?” She turned. “You call the shots.” He winked at her and turned, leaving Laika to stand there for a moment. She then shook her head and walked to the landline, deciding to call her fiancé before she went to meet the two men she would spend the mission with.

It rang twice before she heard the voice of her favourite person in the world.

“Laika!” He panted. “I missed you!” She laughed at the excitement in his voice.

“I missed you too, Seb. I can’t talk long though. I just wanted to hear your voice before I head off on this mission.”

“Mission?” Sebastian asked, his voice faltering.

“Nothing big, don’t worry. Just a fly by to check out some suspicious activity. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’m still worried.” Laika sighed when he said that.

“I know, but there’s nothing I can do.” There was a silence before Laika heard Sebastian sigh.

“I guess this is as safe as it gets, huh?” He resigned.

“Yeah,” Laika whispered. “Hey Seb?”

“Yeah?”

“It’ll be fine. I’m with 3 other guys, all experts in their field. We have a survivalist-navigator, a ballistics expert, and a surveillance expert. We’re just going to fly over and report back, it won’t be more than a day or two,” Laika assured him.

“I believe in you,” Sebastian told her. They were quiet for a few minutes, just listening to each others’ soft breaths.

“I have to go,” Laika finally said, reluctant to be the one to break the moment.

“Alright,” Sebastian whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“I love you most.”

“Well I love you the mostest in the whole world,” Laika said. Sebastian laughed.

“That’s not possible, Laika. Nobody can love anyone or anything more than I love you,” He told her.

“We’ll take this up when I get back.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” Sebastian promised. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Laika said before having to hang up. The woman stood by the phone for a bit longer before running a hand through her thick curls. She walked to the mess hall, looking for the name tags with Smith, Beckett, and Drew on them.


	2. Chapter 2

Smith was easy to find. A boisterous man with a buzzcut and harsh brown eyes, he easily drew attention to himself.

“Smith,” Laika said sharply. He looked up, his laughter faltering slightly.

“What?” He asked aggressively.

“You’re Jacob Smith?”

“Yeah. What’s that got to do with you?” He interrogated, straightening up to make himself look bigger. Laika raised an eyebrow at the motion.

“Captain Laika Andante. I’m the mission leader,” She introduced herself shortly. Laika inspected his reaction, which went from shock, to skepticism, to anger.

“I was under the impression that Andante was a man,” He finally said, breaking the challenging silence between the two of them.

“Your impression was wrong,” Laika said curtly, already deciding she disliked the man. He was quiet for a moment, looking her up and down and sizing up her leadership.

“Do we have a problem?” He finally asked, looking up at her.

“Not unless you make one,” Laika replied. “Meet me over at that table. I want to discuss the mission.” She pointed at an empty table in the corner. Laika stared him down, challenging him to argue with her, before turning to find Drew and Beckett.

Drew was harder to find, but still not a challenge for Laika’s keen eye. He was seated with a quieter, more dignified group of people.

“Benjamin Drew?” Laika asked the man, tapping him on his shoulder. He turned to her with a lingering smile on his face from a joke someone had told.

“Yeah. You must be Captain Andante. Where do you want me to meet you?” He asked, surprising Laika at his wilfulness to work with her, rather than against her.

“That table there. I just need to find Beckett,” Laika told him, gesturing to the table where Smith was seated with a scowl on his face. As soon as Drew clapped eyes on him, his smile dropped.

“Is Smith on the mission?” He asked.

“He is,” Laika confirmed. “Unfortunately,” She muttered at the end. Drew evidently heard it, as he looked back at her with a small smile on his face.

“Did you say you needed to find Beckett?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

“Thomas Beckett?” He clarified. Laika nodded. “He’s over there.” Drew pointed at the small man sitting by himself in a corner. Laika would never have noticed him if he hadn’t been pointed out. Laika thanked Drew and strolled over to Beckett.

“You’re Thomas Beckett?” Laika asked him. He glanced up at her briefly.

“Yeah,” He said quietly. His voice was smooth and melodic, quite the contrary to his rather large, 6 foot frame. “I guess you’re here to brief me about the mission.”

“Yeah, meet us over at that table.” Laika pointed at the table. He nodded and stood up, taking his plate with him.

 

Laika sat down at the table next to Drew. Beckett was seated next to Smith on the other side.

“I assume you have all read the files that should have been given?” Laika started.

“Yeah.” Drew said while Beckett just nodded. Smith looked confused.

“Files? Who even reads those anymore? I thought it was gonna be an email,” Laika sighed at his ignorance.

“No, Smith. It was on your bunk. Mission files always are,” She told him.

“Since when?”

“Since always,” Drew said.

“Well I didn’t read it.” Smith told them. “I can complete missions without the information. It’s not hard. We drop in, shoot the bad guys. Fly out.” He shrugged. Laika sighed and rubbed her hands over her face.

“Well this one is different. There will be no shots fired if all goes well.”

“What?! No killing the bad guys?” Smith asked, ready to start shouting. His hand were braced on the top of the table, ready to push himself out of the seat if necessary. His face was turning purple as a vein in his temple throbbed angrily.

“Smith, sit down. You are making a scene.” The man slowly sat down, still glaring at her. “No shots fired. There has been suspicious activity above a Russian military base in Georgia, we’re just there to fly by and check it out. Beckett, you map a route for us. We need to fly over as little enemy territory as possible. Try to avoid any military bases. I’ll mark the position of the target on a map for you. Smith, once we’re over the target, you identify any weapons you can seen. Drew, you check for anyone getting ready to fire at us and check for any obvious surveillance equipment. We don’t really want any evidence that we were there, if possible. Any questions?”

“Yeah, what kind of suspicious activity are we talking?” Drew piped up.

“We’re talking shots being fired, missiles being tested, lots of activity in supposedly abandoned military bases, that sort of thing. It’s all in the files handed to you,” Laika said. “I thought you said you read it.”

“Well it wasn’t really reading. It was more like….reading,” Drew admitted rather uneloquently. “Kapeesh?”

“Kapeesh,” Laika nodded. Somehow, just the tone of voice in which he said the word was enough for her to understand that he hadn’t been able to really sit down and properly take everything down. Laika could relate; she had just suddenly been pulled aside and handed the mission.

 

 

Laika walked up to the assigned planes. She inspected one running her fingers along the smooth metal. It was an F-15 Strike Eagle, designed for two. Between the two planes, there would be just enough room for the four of them.

“All fuelled up, Cap,” A workman in greased up overalls said. Laika nodded, dropping her fingertips from the plane.

“Thank you. Enough for two days?”

“Enough for three, Cap.”

“Good.” Laika paused. “Enough for a round trip to Georgia?”

“Enough for four flights to Georgia.” The workman promised.

“Okay. Thank you. Can the plane be ready to fly by 0600 hours tomorrow?”

“Yes Captain.”

“Then have it be so,” Laika instructed.

“Of course Captain.” Laika turned and headed to her quarters.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four are chased by unfriendly Russian pilots

Laika was up at 5:00, suiting up and getting ready to check on the plane and the three Lieutenants she was working with. Once dressed and presentable, Laika walked to the men’s quarters. She rapped her knuckles on the door.

“Drew! Beckett! Smith!” There were groaning sounds from inside as the three men crawled out of bed. “Be ready in half an hour!” She waited for the mumbles of agreement before heading to the runway to check on the planes.

 

“Beckett, you’re with me,” Laika ordered, leading him to a plane. She climbed into the pilot’s seat while Beckett climbed into the co-pilot seat. She saw Drew get into the pilot’s seat of the other plane, leaving Smith to grumble about being in the co-pilot’s seat.

“November niner five six Charlie Kilo, this is Sierra one three eight Echo Bravo. Do you copy?” Laika asked.

“We copy,” Drew’s voice cracked through her headset.

“Beckett will navigate. You are to follow this aircraft. If you lose us, you have a route. Follow the route and we will rendezvous at coordinates latitude 43 longitude 41,” Laika explained.

“Roger that,” Drew replied. Laika started up her plane as Drew copied her actions.

 

“Target has been sighted. I don’t see anything,” Smith said.

“No surveillance equipment in sight,” Drew agreed.

“Hey Smith, what’s that dark figure west of us?” Laika asked. There was a pause for a moment.

“That’s a nuke, I think. I can’t see from here but it looks like a nuke,” he said. There was a sudden beeping sound that rang through the cockpit. Laika glanced at her radar to see two Russian aircraft headed for her plane.

“Beckett, strap in. Drew, I’m calling a knock-it-off. Unfriendlies sighted. Fly west back towards Bolling,” Laika instructed, calling off the mission and ordering them to fly back to their home military base.

“Roger. Adjusting flight path,” Drew came in. Laika turned the plane around, gunning the engines.

“Captain, we are being shot at,” Smith’s voice sounded in Laika’s ear.

“Do not engage unless absolutely necessary!” Laika called. “Just get out of here.”

“Roger that.” Laika saw the other plane veer off to the right as one of the Russian aircraft followed it.

“Captain, unfriendlies have engaged,” Beckett informed. His claim was confirmed when Laika heard the sound of bullets whizzing past the plane.

“Beckett, radio the Russians and get them to disengage,” Laika ordered. He nodded and started trying to make a connection with the Russians.

“Russian 7th Military Base. Do you copy? I repeat do you copy. This is Sierra-one-three-eight-Echo-Bravo. I repeat, this is Sierra-one-three-eight-Echo-Bravo. Disengage. I repeat, disengage.” Beckett’s frantic radioing echoed through her helmet as Laika worked on avoiding the bullets being sprayed at her. She twisted the plane upside down momentarily to avoid the missile that was shot at them.

“Disengage, I repeat disengage. We are not harmful. Do you copy?” Beckett continued to yell.

“Russian 7th Military Base, this is Captain Laika Andante, callsign Romanoff, piloting Sierra-one-three-eight-echo-bravo. I am the one in charge of this operation. Disengage, I repeat, disengage. We will engage if you do not call off this operation.” The planes continued to fire at them, showering the four pilots in bullets. Laika caught a glimpse of Drew and Smith off to her left, also under a constant attack.

“Izmir Air Station, do you copy?” Laika asked, radioing the nearest foreign US Air Force base. “This is Sierra-One-Three-Eight-Echo-Bravo. We were on a fly by over Georgia and are now being fired at by two Russian unfriendlies, callsigns November-four-seven-five-Hotel-India and Romeo-two-zero-four-Papa-Zulu. Request for backup. I repeat, this is Sierra-One-Three-Eight-Echo-Bravo, under attack, request for backup. Pilot is Captain Laika Andante, callsign Romanoff. Request for backup.” Laika opened another channel, asking the base in Turkey to send help. She was met with radio silence.

“Shit,” she cursed. “Smith, attempt contact with the Izmir Air Station. Drew, attempt contact with unfriendlies.”

“Roger that,” Smith replied. She heard the two men yelling out distress signals and orders to disengage while Beckett continued to attempt contact with Russia. Laika sighed, already knowing this mission was doomed.


End file.
